Virtual Worlds – Page 125

August 13, 2014

Skill Gaming Applications Appear To Be A Skill Game In Their Own Right

The Skill Gaming applications for Second Life seem to be involved in some sort of skill game of themselves as operators try and seek approval for their game. At this stage I wouldn’t be surprised if the deadline is pushed back again because this is turning into a challenging experience for applicants and Linden Lab.

Let’s just rewind a little, Inara Pey recently covered the Second Life Bar Association discussion on the new TOS and the skill gaming policy. I’ve looked at the TOS discussion but not the skill gaming discussion, so let’s take a look at the skill gaming discussion.

The presentation was headed once again byAgenda Faromet. The discussion is a little bit muddied at times due to the fact that gaming and gambling seem to intermingle, but they do get to the differences about gaming and gambling early on :

Gambling – betting, wagering something of value, money, on a contest, sporting event, game of chance.
Gaming – playing skilled games that require skill or a player’s control of the game.

There are some areas of the discussion that border on being a little bit wrong, for example :

So gachas, breakables, stuff like that? They’re not gambling. I’ve answered so many questions about that. Not affected by the policy because they don’t have a pay-out in Linden dollars. If it doesn’t have a pay-out in Linden dollars, not gambling.

It doesn’t matter what the rick versus reward is, it doesn’t matter that you can sell your rare breakables for a gazillion dollars; they’re not [gambling].

Stock exchange: not gambling. Contest boards … depends on how they’re set-up, but if it costs Linden dollars to play, and it has a pay-out in Linden dollars, it’s gambling. If it doesn’t, not gambling.

The part about not having a pay-out in Linden Dollars meaning it’s not gambling isn’t actually 100% correct. The wagering policy actually states that the pay-out can’t be Linden Dollars or any real world currency or thing of value. The thing of value issue is where people ponder whether certain activities fall foul of the wagering policy, it’s a vague statement. However I suspect it applies to real world things of value, rather than inworld things of value, but I wouldn’t bet on that!

Then there’s a discussion on where attorneys are required to be licensed to practice law :

Comment – If you are from Europe It is rather difficult to hire an attorney who is licensed both in your country and the USA.

Reply – You don’t need an attorney that is licensed in the USA. You need an attorney who can write a letter that says what you are doing is permitted in your country.

However the FAQ does indeed state that the reasoned legal opinion should be provided by an attorney licensed to practice law in the United States. Initially that wasn’t mentioned as a requirement, the goalposts have been moving on these applications.

However it’s interesting that the presentation viewed stock exchanges as not gambling because SL Capex, who bill themselves as the number one stock market simulation in Second Life, are currently in the middle of a skill gaming application and they seem to be having a few difficulties in completing the process.

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August 11, 2014

Kagami – A Japanese Horror Event In Second Life

Kagami advertises itself as a Japanese horror event in Second Life and I have to say it’s pretty bloody funky, but it’s only here for the month of August. Wait, what is Kagami?

“Hey, you know what? At midnight, put two mirrors facing each other. Then you can see your future spouse in the mirror! “

Everything started from these words from my friend.

Of course I didn’t buy that story, but I thought of giving it a try anyway. I’d waited till midnight…. and well, nothing had happened as I expected.

No special reflection on the mirror.

“It’s silly. I should’ve known that from the beginning… better go to bed now.”

A 15-year-old girl shouldn’t have believed it.

But―, I couldn’t have imagined, what was happening to my old friend Kasumi then.

Ok yes yes yes you do indeed play the role of a 15 year old Japanese schoolgirl but you should be big enough to look beyond that, it’s not as if you actually wear such an avatar …. well I didn’t anyway. One of the first things you’ll notice with Kagami is the impressive use of cut scenes that automatically appear on your screen when you wear the HUD.

This is a point and click adventure in many ways, which is something a platform such as Second Life can very much pull off. Initially you’re going in search of your friend Kasumi, who has disappeared, did she try the two mirror trick?

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August 8, 2014August 9, 2014

It’s Worse Than That She’s Dead Jim – Necronom VI To Close

Over at SLUniverse Wildefire Walcott brings us the sad news that the space station Necronom VI is in grave danger and will need to close its doors.

There is confusion as to exactly when the engines will cease working, initial reports suggested it may be this weekend but later reports suggest that an engineer, who is obviously not called Scotty, as that would infringe way too much IP, may have managed to get an extra week out of the space station.

Necronom VI is a rare beast, it’s a science fiction roleplay sim. I’m surprised there aren’t more science fiction ventures in Second Life but now we’re likely to be minus one. So, you may be asking, what exactly is Necronom VI? Well the sim does come with a bit of history, but first let’s talk about space colonisation :

–Project Necronom – Space Colonization–

It is an ancient human dream to colonize vast space itself.

Humanity has expended over the galaxy for centuries, terraforming planets and creating equals to its former home. In order to reach the next step of existence however, the final move into space itself needs to be achieved.

It is estimated that over a mere timeframe of five genrations, humanity can reach the next step of evolution.

In an effort to bring forth this crucial development, the Necronom project has been initiated by a combined effort of the whole human race, even beyond the reaches of the UCE (United Colonies of Earth).

Twelve space colonies, spread throughout the galaxy, were constructed to house humanities biggest hope.

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August 8, 2014

The Second Life TOS – Even The SLBA Are Confused By It

When Linden Lab announced changes to the controversial section 2.3 of their TOS a lot of people cheered, until they read it properly, then a lot of people groaned and finally they scratched their heads trying to work out what it all means.

To this end the Second Life Bar association held a presentation last weekend and the legend that is Inara Pey has audio and transcripts of not one, but two presentations surrounding the TOS. Inara has broken the presentation down into a part about the changes to section 2.3 and a a part about the changes relating to the new skill gaming section of the TOS.

Now first of all, we’re a week away from the anniversary of the first controversial change to the TOS, August 15th 2013 was the fateful day. Then in July 2014 Linden Lab tried to address this issue and made some changes, what exactly changed? Well the presentation regarding section 2.3 explains that as best as it can :

The words on the list of the rights that you grant Linden Lab changed order. That’s really the most important thing that changed. And also a parenthetical limitation was added.

And this is really important to understand, and when I say it’s important to understand, it’s because I don’t understand it, and I don’t think anybody that I know, that I’ve talked to, really understands it. I write Terms of Service for a living, and I don’t understand what they did here. And I think this is where we need to talk about what they did and why they did it.

So there in a nutshell comes the first major issue with the change to the TOS, someone who writes terms of service for a living doesn’t understand what Linden Lab have done. Now at this point I should pause and point out that attorneys, judges, lawyers, solicitors and the whole legal profession make a living of not agreeing with each other over what something means, but in this case, there’s really no excuse for it to be such a confusing matter.

This isn’t to say that the TOS change in July is a waste of time, it might be more positive than people think, the problem is, nobody is really sure. The problem lies with the parenthetical limitation, so let’s take a look at that in action from the Second Life TOS :

Except as otherwise described in any Additional Terms (such as a contest’s official rules) which will govern the submission of your User Content, you hereby grant to Linden Lab, and you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and sell, re-sell or sublicense (through multiple levels)(with respect to Second Life, Inworld or otherwise on the Service as permitted by you through your interactions with the Service)

The end part is the confusing area, does it apply to sublicense? Does it apply to sell, re-sell? Does it apply to everything that goes before it? Nobody knows! Now this is a game changer depending upon what it applies to, the SLBA presentation said that this could be brilliant :

This limitation limits their power to … it limits their power to activities on the service, which is something we were asking for, and it limits their ability to use your content to the creator’s permissions.

So if you have done something that indicates to Linden Lab that they can’t use your content. for instance, you have deleted it, or you have put restrictions on it; no copy or no transfer, this indicates what the permissions should be.

So this is a great limitation; it’s beautiful. But there’s a problem. And here’s the problem. Let’s go back. They changed the words in this list of rights; they changed the order.

The permissions system is not the only limitation placed on content, so that could come across as misleading. For example texture sellers will sell their textures full perms because that’s the permissions level that textures need to have applied to them in order for textures to be useful to an end user, but textures will come with a EULA specifying limitations above and beyond the Second Life permissions system. Linden Lab do recognise this in their terms of service section 2.7 to be fair.

The problem here is one of application. One really has to wonder if this is a deliberate move so that Linden Lab still have these overreaching rights but give the appearance that they have addressed concerns. I would like to think that they would not do that but I’m left wondering why they’ve produced such unclear terms, to get this into context let’s go back to pre-August 2013.

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August 7, 2014August 8, 2014

Taking A Step Back In Time In Second Life History

Second Life doesn’t have an equivalent of the wayback machine, however the Second Life Origins section of the destination guide allows us to step back in time and experience Second Life in its former glory in parts. The section has replicas of old experiences as well as having the old places that are still really there!

Let’s start by going back to 2002, before Second Life was officially even born. This is the pre-release world and a visit to the first Second Life region, we’re going to Da Boom!

Alas I did not find the disco that I’ve seen pictured in Governor Linden’s mansion. However I did find a part of mainland that has a special area, the Linden playground! This is protected land, it sits near the middle of the sim and it has an arch built by Alberto Linden, whose age is quite eye catching.

This isn’t a replica, this is a real sim, there are stores here owned by existing residents, there’s the amusingly titled Primternet cafe too. This is where it all began and it’s quite a nice location, people aren’t arguing about access here because of that special piece of protected land giving everyone a pleasant experience.

However the section of the destination guide isn’t just about pointing us in the direction of old sims, it also points us in the direction of Linden Lab giving thanks to their old residents.

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